Description of a Plan for the Improvement of the Central Park, "Greensward." |
Common terms and phrases
59th street acres adapted advantage afford facilities agreeable American trees arcade architectural architectural structure Berceau walks Bogardus Hill brick The Arboretum Canal street carried carts Central Park character City-Hall park conceived Croton east Eighth avenue execution the simpler feet Fifth avenue Fifty-Ninth street flower-garden foot of Bogardus fountain garden grand promenade hill-side idea intended lake land between Fifth lawn and wood-land line of trees lots for stores lower park mile in ex military exercises Mount St music-hall natural necessary NOTE occupied offer a sufficient open space Parade ground park drives park proper park side picturesque effect planted playground police position is indicated present reservoir promenade prominent proposed purpose quarter was recommended railroad selected this tract sidewalk sion in April Sixth avenue entrance skat skating pond structure table-land telegraph is brought thought tion transverse roads upper park upper section vicinity Vista Rock wall
Popular passages
Page 9 - ... situation in the probable future heart of the city had to be considered, and transverse roads between the east and west sides of the city were, of course, demanded. The Park being two and-a-half miles in length, it was also evident that these transverse roads would, at no very distant time, become crowded thoroughfares, having nothing in common with the Park proper, but every way at variance with the agreeable sentiments it should inspire.
Page 5 - The horizon lines of the upper park are bold and sweeping and the slopes have great breadth in almost every Aspect in which they may be contemplated. As this character isjthe highest ideal that can be aimed at for a park under any circumstances, and as it is in most decided contrast to the confined and formal lines of the city it is desirable to interfere with it, by cross-roads and other constructions, as little as possible.
Page 8 - out of town;" twenty years hence, the town will have enclosed the Central Park. Let us consider, therefore, what will at that time be satisfactory, for it is then that the design will have to be really judged. No longer an open suburb, our ground will have around it a continuous high wall of brick, stone, and marble. The adjoining shores will be lined with commercial docks and warehouses; steamboat and ferry landings, railroad stations, hotels, theatres, factories, will be on all sides of it and...
Page 10 - They must be constantly open to all the legitimate traffic of the city, to coal carts and butchers' carts, dust carts and dung carts; engine companies will use them, those on one side the park rushing their machines across it with frantic zeal at every alarm from the other; ladies and invalids will need special police escort for crossing them, as they do in lower Broadway: eight times in a single circuit of the park will they oblige a pleasure drive or stroll to encounter a turbid stream of coarse...
Page 34 - ... close to the carriage roads, which are intended to be 60 feet wide, allowing a space of four feet of turf as a barrier between the drive and the path. Other more private footpaths are introduced, but it is hardly thought that any plan would be popular in New York, that did not allow of a continuous promenade along the line of the drives, so that pedestrians may have ample opportunity to look at the equipages and their inmates. It will be perceived that no long straight drive has been provided...
Page 9 - ... to become. Inevitably they will be crowded thoroughfares, having nothing in common with the park proper, but every thing at variance with those agreeable sentiments which we should wish the park to inspire. It will not be possible to enforce the ordinary police regulations of public parks upon them. They must be constantly open to all the legitimate traffic of the city, to coal carts and butchers...
Page 19 - Many elegant buildings may be appropriately erected for x desirable purposes in a public park, but we conceive that all such architectural structures should be confessedly subservient to the main idea, and that nothing artificial should be obtruded on the view as an ultimatum of interest. The idea of the park itself should always be uppermost in the mind of the beholder.
Page 11 - If the position which has just been taken with regard to the necessity for permanently open transverse thoroughfares is found to be correct, it follows necessarily that the 700 acres allowed to the new park must, in the first instance, be subdi1 Note, 1868.—In execution, the four traffic roads have been carried through the Park in the manner suggested.
Page 23 - This site is recommended because it is conspicuous without being obtrusive, and is easy of access from the promenade and from one of the leading avenue entrances; while, to the north, it commands from its terraces and verandas the finest views that are to be obtained in the lower part of the park.
Page 11 - In the plan herewith offered to the Commission, each of the transverse roads is intended to be sunk so far below the general surface that the park drives may, at every necessary point of intersection, be carried entirely over it, without any obvious elevation or divergence from their most attractive routes. The banks on each side will be walled up to the height of about seven feet, thus forming the protective barrier required by police considerations, and a little judicious planting...